We're pleased to welcome Rob White as a Strategic Advisor to Initia Risk.
In short
Rob White joins Initia Risk as a Strategic Advisor. He is Chief Risk & Compliance Officer, UK Retail at Acrisure, with 15+ years as a practitioner CRO/CCO across insurance broking, banking and consulting.
- Role - Strategic Advisor, focused on insurance broking and FCA-regulated intermediaries.
- Advisory angle - practitioner realities of the risk function, including Delegated Authority (DA) and Appointed Representative (AR) networks.
- Why it matters - keeps Initia grounded in what first-line teams and risk leaders in broking actually need.
This matters because Initia was built by a practitioner, for practitioners. Rob's insurance broking and FCA-regulated firm lens sharpens how the product serves that sector specifically - not as a generic "financial services" use case, but as the operating model brokers actually run.
A Practitioner CRO/CCO in Insurance Broking
Rob currently serves as Chief Risk & Compliance Officer, UK Retail at Acrisure. He brings more than 15 years' experience as a practitioner CRO/CCO across insurance broking, banking and consulting.
His career spans both in-house leadership and advisory work:
- AXA UK - Chief Compliance Officer
- Howden Broking - Deputy CCO
- Aston Lark - Head of Compliance
- Deloitte - Senior Manager, Insurance Regulation and Strategy
- Earlier operational roles at Hiscox and RBS
That path matters. It is not a single-firm view of risk, and it is not a consulting-only view either. Rob has run compliance in brokers, sat in insurer leadership, and advised firms from the other side of the table. You can read more on his LinkedIn profile.
What Rob Will Advise On
Rob is advising on the practitioner realities of running a risk function in insurance broking - helping keep Initia Risk grounded in what first-line teams and risk leaders actually need, not just what a platform should theoretically offer.
A specific focus is how Delegated Authority (DA) and Appointed Representative (AR) networks can benefit from proportionate risk and compliance tooling. Those models are normal in UK distribution. They also create a control problem that generic GRC software rarely designs for: principals accountable for activity they do not perform themselves, across a network of firms with uneven maturity, lean second lines, and evidence that lives in email until someone asks for it.
Proportionate in that setting does not mean light-touch. It means:
- Clear ownership of risks and controls across the network, not a central register nobody in the first line opens.
- Assessment and evidence workflows that appointed representatives and coverholders can complete without a four-week training programme.
- Oversight the principal can actually show - to the board, to the FCA, and to itself - without rebuilding the pack from scratch each quarter.
That is the job Initia is trying to do for insurance brokers and other FCA-regulated intermediaries. Rob's role is to keep that ambition honest against how broking risk functions actually operate.
Why This Matters for Initia Risk Customers
Initia was built by a practitioner, for practitioners. Adding Rob further concentrates our insurance broking and FCA-regulated firm expertise, alongside the lending and regulated financial services expertise already shaping the product through Strategic Advisor Rajeev Marwaha.
For prospective customers, the value is straightforward. If you run a broker, an MGA, or a DA/AR network, the person challenging our roadmap has sat in the CCO/CRO chair in that market. The product questions that follow are the ones you would ask: will the first line use it, will it survive an FCA conversation, and will it reduce the admin of the framework rather than add to it?
You can meet the wider team on our About page.
Welcome to the team, Rob. The announcement on LinkedIn: